Origin of scientific racism?
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There's no universally recognised "father of scientific racism", though a number of names could be suggested.
One example is the French noble Arthur de Gobineau, best remembered today for pioneering the concept of an Aryan master race. His infamous An Essay on the Inequality of the Human Races, published in 1853, inspired a host of other racial theories including those of the Nazis. This has led some to label Gobineau as "the earliest significant intellectual racist"[1] or the "father of racist ideologies"[2].
While credited to Gobineau today, precursors to the master race concept can be traced much further back to Henri de Boulainvilliers in the early 18th century. Also a French aristocrat, Boulainvilliers argued that the Germanic nobility of France are racially superior to the Gaulish underclass. He originated the concept of measuring skulls to determine race, claiming that Germanic aristocratic skulls were larger[3] - a practice later made infamous by the Nazis.
The Swedish biologist Carolus Linnæus, better known as the "father of modern taxonomy" today, provides another early example. His Systema Naturæ is reckoned today as one of the "foundational texts" of scientific racism[4], and defined the human race into five "varieties". Though not nearly as virulent as some of the others, and rather more scientific in his approach Linnæus nevertheless linked physical features to emotional, intellectual, and other psychological traits. This has led him to be regarded by some as "the original founding father of scientific racism"[5].
The Reverend Robert Malthus, more famous today for being the namesake of Malthusianism, refrained from more explicit forms of racism. Instead he railed against welfare, on the grounds that interfering with divinely ordained poverty perpetuates the "unfit" - a rhetoric we'll recognise today as social Darwinism. These concepts are credited with inspiring the classical definition of scientific racism[6] as formulated by Allan Chase, who in his 1980 work Legacy of Malthus calls him the founding father of scientific racism[7] - despite Malthus himself not emphasising race as a factor.
Lastly, there is the Jamaican planter Edward Long who in 1774 published a vicious tirade describing Africans to be innately inferior to whites. He argued enslavement of Africans to be a necessity since they were too mentally, physically, and morally deficient to govern themselves - all very convenient for a planter relying on slave labour. Titled History of Jamaica, Long's work was devoid in scientific merits but widely read and and accepted, and now considered a pivotal development in scientific racism.
Sources:
[1] Nucci, Larry, ed. Conflict, Contradiction, and Contrarian Elements in Moral Development and Education. Psychology Press, 2005.
[2] Barkan, Elazar. The Retreat of Scientific Racism
Changing Concepts of Race in Britain and the United States between the World Wars. Cambridge University Press, 1992.
[3] van Galen Last, Rick, and Ralf Futselaar. Black Shame: African Soldiers in Europe, 1914-1922. Bloomsbury, 2015.
[4] Burton, Jonathan, and Ania Loomba. Race in Early Modern England: A Documentary Companion. Springer, 2007.
[5] http://www.saobserver.com/single-post/2017/04/18/Scientific-Racism
[6] "The perversion of scientific and historical facts to create the myth of two distinct races of humankind." - Allan Chase
[7] Brantlinger, Patrick. Dark Vanishings: Discourse on the Extinction of Primitive Races, 1800-1930. Cornell University Press, 2003.
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